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Is China a bully? If you stopped the average person in the street
and asked this question, the answer would probably be a resounding
‘YES’. Why? A bully is defined as: Someone who habitually seeks to
harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable.
So how could China be a bully?

A week or so ago, we discussed the union bashing disguised
as concern for ‘essential workers’ from LNP MPs Andrew Laming
and Peter Dutton. Unfortunately, the pitiful behaviours exhibited by
these two LNP politicians is not reserved to the outer suburbs of Brisbane.

You may have seen Federal MP Andrew Laming’s comment in the
media recently suggesting that parents send their children back to
school, regardless of the recommendations of the various Education
Departments around Australia. The ABC’s version of the story is here.

How many times have we questioned the mental status of POTUS Trump?
It was as far back as November 2016 that we began to do so with
Let’s welcome President Trump. Even then, Michael Moore expressed
his doubts about Trump’s surprise election and predicted, albeit incorrectly

It seems Australia’s success so far in reducing the impacts of COVID 19 has
a lot to do with the co-ordinated efforts of the various state governments and
the federal government. Comparisons to other countries with similar qualities of
life demonstrate Australians are experiencing less Coronavirus related illness and death.

Have you ever noticed there are some ‘special people’ in our society
that are always hustling to gain a sniff of an advantage? With the current
restrictions on life as we (used to) know it accepted by the majority of
Australians in an effort to prevent a far worse tragedy, our hustlers seem
to be lining up to demonstrate their complete lack of regard for the rest of us.

The Political Sword

Tony Abbott knows that perception is everything in politics. So he has embarked on a campaign to label Kevin Rudd a ‘bore’, and just too add a splash of colour, no matter how meaningless, he adds the prefix ‘toxic’. Would he have ever selected such an adjective ...

Now that the tumultuous last week of parliamentary sitting is behind you, I suppose it’s a time for reflection. Time for you to ask: ‘How am I doing?’ Time to check the compass, time to contemplate how to achieve better outcomes – unless of course you’re q...

Steve Fielding has one vote, which he has the right to exercise, although he could hardly claim to ‘represent’ Victorians, having garnered less than 2% of the Senate vote. Yesterday saw him exercise that vote against the alcopops legislation, thereby sinking it by one v...

Asked by a viewer last Sunday on Channel Ten’s Meet The Press why the Government and the Opposition could not work together collaboratively to manage the nation’s response to the GFC, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke responded by pointing out that “Mr Turnbull changes his position...

Media people yearn for the scoop, the breaking story they get to first. They dream of being ahead of the pack, of upstaging their competitors. They pursue their dreams every day. But today’s politicians watch every word they utter, fearful of saying something that will come...

The reappearance of Peter Costello over recent weeks has heightened speculation that he will soon take a run at the leadership. Rumours filtered out today that he now has the numbers in the Liberal party room to roll Malcolm Turnbull if it came to a challenge.
As asserted in an earlier...

In an article in The Weekend Australian of 7-8 March titled PM's cheap money shot Malcolm Turnbull responds to Kevin Rudd’s essay in The Monthly, The Global Financial Crisis – (first 1500 words of the Rudd essay here). Turnbull’s piece is worth reading as it gives ...

Aspiration to the highest office in the land is the ambition of most senior politicians. So after so many years coveting that position, it came as a bolt from the blue when Peter Costello declined leadership after it was offered on a plate right after the 2007 election. A role outside ...

Metaphors abound around the global financial crisis. The Government says we’re facing a global tsunami, and we can’t swim against that sort of tide. We’re in a ship in stormy waters battling the elements. In the wake of Victoria’s bushfires, it’s sur...

So much of life is predicated on a capacity to predict. We want to know what the weather is predicted to be tomorrow, this week, next week. We want our doctor to predict the likely progression of our illnesses and the effect of treatment. Investors would like to know what the sto...

Recently Mark Bahnisch of blogsite Larvatus Prodeo said he "...would be interested in what LP folks think makes an excellent piece of online writing in journalistic form...a set of criteria distinctive to feature writing or reportage produced specifically for the online medium rather than print...

Like kids at the end of the school holidays, some of our journalists are bored stiff. They want some excitement to make their dull life a little more bearable. The Press Gallery sits in Parliament, hangs around the precinct looking for doorstops, dwelling on the occasional press confer...

This week’s Newspoll must be a worry for the Coalition, showing as it does the same 2PP of 58/42 as the poll in early February. Since that poll the Opposition has made a display of what it believed was economic responsibility by opposing the fiscal stimulus package, a move it hop...

There seems to be little disagreement, even amongst his detractors, that Malcolm Turnbull is highly intelligent. It almost goes without saying.
Yet how can someone with his purported intelligence do such dumb things all through last week? Is it because intelligence is not a homog...

On Friday last Possum Comitatus on his Crikey site Pollytics in a piece titled Unleash Your Inner Liberal Strategist asked readers to devise a Liberal Party strategy to become electorally competitive again. So far 38 have commented. Here was my contribution, minimally modified, [...

The National Day of Mourning for those affected by the February 7 bushfires in Victoria has been crowned this morning by a moving heart-warming event at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. With Ian Henderson of ABC Melbourne TV as the dignified MC, the service proceeded faultlessly through music, ...

The central problem with economists is that not one of them fully understands how the world economy came to be in the mess it’s in. They can give partial explanations that describe a series of events and actions that have brought us to where we are, but these explanations are always in...

First he confidently predicted that Julie Bishop was safe in his piece in this morning’s Australian Bishop retains Turnbull backing only to have her quit her Shadow Treasurer role within hours. His opening sentence “Liberal frontbencher Julie Bishop looks safe as the Opposit...

The Australian on Friday 13 February and this Weekend Australian carried pieces by Frank Devine, Peter van Onselen and Dennis Shanahan, all directing acerbic attacks at Kevin Rudd. Devine’s piece attacks Rudd’s article in The Monthly, the others Rudd’s ‘connection of ...

After media speculation that intensified over the weekend, Julie Bishop has just announced she is stepping down from the Shadow Treasurer role, and will take up the Shadow Foreign Affairs job. No mention yet of what Helen Coonan will do or who will take Bishop’s job. Joe Hockey a...

Newsletter

Is China a bully?Is China a bully? If you stopped the average person in the street and asked this question, the answer would probably be a resounding ‘YES’. Why? A bully is defined as: Someone who habitually seeks to harm or intimidate those whom they perceive as vulnerable. So how could China be a bully? ‘China’ ... 1/06/2020

Give us a breakA week or so ago, we discussed the union bashing disguised as concern for ‘essential workers’ from LNP MPs Andrew Laming and Peter Dutton. Unfortunately, the pitiful behaviours exhibited by these two LNP politicians is not reserved to the outer suburbs of Brisbane.... 25/05/2020

People that live in glass housesYou may have seen Federal MP Andrew Laming’s comment in the media recently suggesting that parents send their children back to school, regardless of the recommendations of the various Education Departments around Australia. The ABC’s version of the story is here.... 18/05/2020

Solar panels: ASD If you are looking for solar panels for your property buy it with ASD. We will guide you in a proper way with ur all question. Also, enjoy the government subsidy on solar panels. Solar panels are the future of a nation. Make Australia as a solar country.. Buy now for your...